2007-10-04 Good but suffocating

This is a super book. The research is out of the top drawer - very impressive indeed. One is left with the vivid images of what it must have been like to be a politican at this time and the sorts of skills required. From that perspective, it was excellent. However, there is so much information and detail that one has to study the book rather than read the book. It stifles the flow of the attractive story as all details that can be tied into the narrative are introduced. I am not sure that I would like to recommend this book as something to read, but as a text for historical research I suspect it will become required reading.